ID :
27017
Tue, 10/28/2008 - 16:11
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/27017
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N.K. delegation to visit New York for seminar: State Dept. By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean delegation will visit New York for a seminar soon early next month, but it is not clear whether North Korean delegates will meet with U.S. officials there, the U.S. State Department said Monday.
"We understand that a delegation from North Korea will travel to the U.S. later
this fall for meetings with U.S. NGOs," the department said in a statement,
referring to nongovernmental organizations. "State Department participation in
the meetings has not been determined at this time."
Ri Gun, director general of the American affairs bureau of the North's Foreign
Ministry, will visit New York at the invitation of the National Committee on
American Foreign Policy soon after the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 4, a
diplomatic source here said.
Ri, former deputy chief of the North Korean mission to the United Nations in New
York, doubles as deputy head of the North Korean delegation to the six-party
talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Ri's U.S. counterpart is Sung Kim, special envoy on the six-party talks, who
accompanied Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. nuclear envoy, to Pyongyang in early
October to present a face-saving measure for North Koreans who are reluctant to
allow unfettered access to their nuclear facilities.
Soon after the visit, Pyongyang agreed to allow international monitors to inspect
facilities for verification of the nuclear list the North presented in June.
Critics say the U.S. made too many concessions because the North allowed access
to undeclared sites only by mutual consent.
Ri's New York visit comes on the heels of a planned meeting Tuesday between Hill
and his Japanese counterpart, Akitaka Saiki, over promised energy aid to North
Korea, one of stumbling blocks to resumption of the six party talks expected to
reconvene next month.
Japan refuses to provide 200,000 tons of heavy fuel oil, its share of the one
million tons of heavy fuel oil or alternative aid to be funneled to the North in
return for the North's disabling of its nuclear facilities under the six-party
deal.
Tokyo complains Pyongyang has not addressed its claim that several more Japanese
abductees are still alive in the North aside from five who returned home years
ago. Pyongyang says the others are dead.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
"We understand that a delegation from North Korea will travel to the U.S. later
this fall for meetings with U.S. NGOs," the department said in a statement,
referring to nongovernmental organizations. "State Department participation in
the meetings has not been determined at this time."
Ri Gun, director general of the American affairs bureau of the North's Foreign
Ministry, will visit New York at the invitation of the National Committee on
American Foreign Policy soon after the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 4, a
diplomatic source here said.
Ri, former deputy chief of the North Korean mission to the United Nations in New
York, doubles as deputy head of the North Korean delegation to the six-party
talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Ri's U.S. counterpart is Sung Kim, special envoy on the six-party talks, who
accompanied Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. nuclear envoy, to Pyongyang in early
October to present a face-saving measure for North Koreans who are reluctant to
allow unfettered access to their nuclear facilities.
Soon after the visit, Pyongyang agreed to allow international monitors to inspect
facilities for verification of the nuclear list the North presented in June.
Critics say the U.S. made too many concessions because the North allowed access
to undeclared sites only by mutual consent.
Ri's New York visit comes on the heels of a planned meeting Tuesday between Hill
and his Japanese counterpart, Akitaka Saiki, over promised energy aid to North
Korea, one of stumbling blocks to resumption of the six party talks expected to
reconvene next month.
Japan refuses to provide 200,000 tons of heavy fuel oil, its share of the one
million tons of heavy fuel oil or alternative aid to be funneled to the North in
return for the North's disabling of its nuclear facilities under the six-party
deal.
Tokyo complains Pyongyang has not addressed its claim that several more Japanese
abductees are still alive in the North aside from five who returned home years
ago. Pyongyang says the others are dead.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
